I Saw Three Ships
by Mall Rat Matt
Summary: Alice experiences her perfect Christmas, but everything is not as it seems. My seasonal offering for 2009!


Alice hummed happily to herself as she placed the tray of mince pies in the oven, and adjusted the scarf that held her hair back from her face, leaving traces of flour amongst the auburn curls. She checked on her sauce and the potatoes, then removed her apron and hung it on the peg on the back of the door; a few minutes to relax with a glass of wine, then she would return to her Christmas dinner preparations. She didn't notice the person sneaking up behind her until a pair of large hands cupped themselves over her eyes and a man's voice jovially barked 'Guess who!'

Wriggling free from her captor she turned to face him, her smile turning to a confused frown when she saw that it was Ned. _This can't be right_, she thought to herself.

'What's wrong?' he asked, then gave a cheeky grin. 'Were you expecting somebody else?'

As soon as he smiled at her she forgot whatever had been bothering her and smiled back. 'Of course not,' she said warmly, kissing him on the cheek. 'Why don't we go through and see the others?' A small voice at the back of her head told her that something was wrong, but she quickly suppressed it, like swatting an irritating fly. Taking Ned's hand she opened the door to the farmhouse's main living area and walked through. She beamed in delight at the scene that greeted her. The long oak table in the middle of the room was decked with wreaths of holly and pine cones from outside, and the light of candle flames flickered from the large iron candle holders hanging from the ceiling. The whole place had a warm, welcoming glow. At one end of the room Tally and Andy sat dozing by the fire, their paper hats sitting skewed on top of their heads as they rested against each other. Next to them Ellie stood halfway up a stepladder, pausing in the act of placing a star on top of the Christmas tree to smile at her sister. A moment later her attention was elsewhere again as she playfully slapped Jack's hand as he reached for one of the candy canes hanging from a branch below her. Only KC seemed out of place, staring at Alice with sad eyes from a stool in the corner of the room, his face smeared with dirt and sand, and his clothes torn. She sighed regretfully as the voice at the back of her head returned. This time she knew why.

'What's the matter?' Ned asked, putting his arm around her. 'I thought you'd like it. I thought you'd be pleased.' Ellie, Jack, Tally and Andy were now all looking at her with disappointment on their faces. KC was nowhere to be seen.

She turned to face Ned. 'It's perfect, love,' she said, a wave of sadness washing over her. Gently raising a hand to his face, she stopped herself short of touching him. 'It's too perfect.' A flash of anger passing through her, she strode to the centre of the room, turning on the spot and shooting accusing looks at the walls, ignoring the people in the room who now only stood looking dumbly ahead of them. 'Congratulations!' she spat as she turned, the whole world suddenly flickering queasily. 'You nearly had me that time! What next? The Virus never happened?' The world flickered ever more violently and she heard voices around her; voices she recognised as the enemy. She cried out in pain and anger as the world was suddenly ripped away from her and she was left in darkness.

With a gasp she sucked in air as if she had surfaced from underwater just short of drowning. It seemed to take forever but gradually her rasping subsided and her mind remembered the reality she was in. With a sigh of resignation she lowered her head, her hair falling sweatily in front of her face.

'Again!' a female voice somewhere above and in front of her demanded and a bright light came on, illuminating the previously dark room and revealing a man standing in front of her, dressed in the black uniform of the Technos and holding the Reality Space headset he had removed from her. Though she was tied and bound in her chair, he looked worried. She made a show of lunging towards him, snarling, and he leapt back as if she would break through her bonds. _I'm safe as long as they're afraid of me_, she told herself.

'Again!' the voice repeated, impatiently. Alice tossed her head to move her hair away from her face and glare at the half dozen or so Technos on the dais above her. They all ignored her.

'I…I don't think that's a good idea,' the Techno in front of her stammered. 'She's practically feral already!' She snarled again and the Techno yelped.

The female Techno on the dais sighed in vexation. 'Very well then, take her away,' she snapped. 'Bring the next one in.' Immediately two guards dressed in samurai-like armour appeared at her side and undid the straps that held her to the chair, though not the chains that bound her hands and feet. Native islanders, they had been gathered up by the Technos when they set up their prison camp here. Her attempts at switching their allegiance had remained unsuccessful, however; they had completely thrown their lot in with the Technos.

Letting herself be led away by the guards, she forced herself to concentrate on each step, of the feel of her boots on her feet, and the weight of her chains; the friction of the cuffs around her wrists and legs. It was the only way she could distinguish between real life and Reality Space. As she emerged from the concrete building that housed the Techno garrison, the muggy heat of the island hit her and she averted her eyes from the glare of the sun. Light glinted off the armour of the Islanders she passed as she was taken down the rocky path that led to the beach cells, and she began to feel dizzy. By the position of the sun in the sky she judged that she had missed the prisoners' midday meal, and it would be hours before they would be brought food and water again. They had never kept her that long before, but she tried not to think about what that might mean. Before long she reached the huge cage that housed the prisoners. The guards at the gate stirred as the gate was unlocked, ready to repel any resistance from inside, though that had long since been driven out of everyone's minds. One of the guards who had escorted her back from the cliffs gave her a rough shove and she tumbled inside the cage, falling to her knees as the cage door clanged shut. She felt as though she would never stand up again.

She felt a shadow falling over her but didn't raise her head. Then a hand placed itself gently on her arm and she heard a familiar deep voice.

'Here,' KC said, pushing a water skin at her. 'I saved some for you, but don't let them see.' He meant the other prisoners as well as the guards, she knew. He spoke in a determined whisper, sympathetic but not about to let her wallow in her own self-pity. It was the way they spoke to each other each time one of them returned from that concrete building, and it spurred her to stand shakily and let KC lead her to a more secluded part of the beach. There, resting against the cage wall, she wet her parched lips with the water before pouring what was left down her throat. KC took out a squashed piece of bread from his pocket and gave that to her, too. 'It's all I could hide,' he said apologetically, but she ate it ravenously, making noises she hoped passed for thanks as she did so. Their eyes met as she passed back the empty water skin and she looked away quickly. It always pained her to see KC's eyes. Captivity had hardened them all, it was true, but she remembered KC's cheeky smile and the mischievous glint in his eyes he had had before the Technos arrived, that had so much been a part of him. He was physically older too, of course, and as tall as she was now. Even in his dishevelled state he had grown into a handsome young man, except for those eyes.

At the flicker of movement they both tensed like coiled springs. A group of prisoners shuffled past them and sat down in the sand. One of them had blood on his face. At the sight of their tribal markings, two clock hands, one on the forehead and the other on the cheek, KC relaxed. It wasn't just the Technos and the Islander guards you had to look out for here; there had been many fights among the prisoners too, but the Timekeepers wouldn't dare start any trouble, certainly not now. Alice did not relax, however, but stared at them through narrowed eyes. They noticed, and became visibly nervous.

'It's not their fault, Alice.' KC said softly, putting a hand on her arm.

Almost a fortnight ago the Timekeepers suddenly became excited. As a tribe they held to the old calendar where others had forgotten it, and they had announced that it was the start of Advent, that soon it would be Christmas. They had meant it as a way of keeping their spirits up; after all, everyone had to hold onto something. Indeed for that first few days the mood in the camp was lighter, but the Technos noticed. It didn't take long for them to ferret out the reason, and since then their Reality Space experiments became even more twisted, torturing the prisoners with visions of celebrations they could never have, then turning them into the stuff of nightmares. It was even more unfortunate for the Timekeepers that the Technos chose this time to introduce their upgraded headsets.

'It's worse than you can imagine, KC' she said. Her fellow Mallrat hadn't yet been subjected to the new experiments, but this was the second time she had been taken. At first nothing had seemed any different, apart from the new headset, a lightweight visor over the eyes rather than a helmet. But then some of the prisoners started talking about seeing impossible things in Reality Space, dead parents and long lost friends, and it soon became clear that the Technos weren't just using virtual copies of people they had scanned into their systems anymore. These new headsets could pull someone out of your very memories. Anyone who was ever close to you, anyone you had ever lost, could appear to torture you in Reality Space. The first time it had been her mother, so disappointed with her, weeping and blaming her for Ellie's death. Only the belief that her sister was alive and well out there, somewhere, had kept her sane during that one. And this time, Ned. The life they could have lived, together, at the farm.

'It's not real,' KC said in the guilty way of someone who knows it is easy to say. 'We just have to keep telling ourselves.'

'Every time it gets harder to tell,' she sighed.

'That's why we've got to be there for each other,' KC pointed out. 'All of us. We have to stick together or the Technos have won.' With that he stood and walked over to the group of Timekeepers. At first they exchanged nervous glances among themselves and cowered from the advancing Mallrat, but KC just knelt among them, talking softly. Alice couldn't hear what he was saying, but a nod here and a pat on the back there and soon the Timekeepers were beaming and looking up at him in awe. One of them looked over to Alice and smiled, and she forced herself to nod back. The pain of what she had seen was still too fresh to do more, but KC was right. It wasn't the Timekeepers' fault.

The smiles soon stopped at the clang of the compound gate. The escort of Islanders and Technos returned, and Alice felt relieved when they headed for the opposite end of the camp. Soon after they came back, with the Guardian marching alongside them as if they were his personal guard. The supporters he had somehow gathered since his arrival cheered as he was led away. It was a mark of the Technos' contempt that they tolerated his having followers at all. With another clang of steel they were gone, and everything was back to normal. KC came to sit beside her once more.

'No prizes for guessing what he'll be seeing,' he muttered.

'Almighty Zoot in a manger no doubt,' she replied, her mouth twisting in distaste. 'At least all this Reality Space testing doesn't seem to affect him. I almost envy the guy.'

A sudden commotion made her look up, to where a crowd was gathering at the other end of the camp, where the Guardian had just passed through.

'Another riot?'

'I don't think so,' KC frowned, taking a step. 'Something else.'

'Look!' One of the Timekeepers cried, rushing towards the mesh followed by her comrades. Alice joined them, peering out of the gaps in the direction they and the rest of the prisoners further up the beach were looking. Out to sea.

'KC!' she gasped, disbelievingly.

'I see them,' he replied in the same tone. He was also at the mesh, pressing himself as close as he could.

Ships. The first signs of human life they had seen from off the island for months. These weren't the familiar Techno transport vessels either, but two large fishing boats heading for the cove, and one smaller boat chugging along a short distance behind them. The whole compound was gathered along the beach watching the shore now, including the Islanders and the few Technos who were outside. The Guardian's escort, halfway up the cliff now, had also seen the approaching vessels and were making their way back down, apart from a lone Techno who was racing up to the headquarters building.

'They weren't expecting this,' she whispered. The Timekeepers murmured excitedly among themselves, but KC just kept watching the boats.

'They might not be friendly to the Technos, but that doesn't mean they'll be friendly to us,' he said flatly.

It seemed to take an age for the first ship to reach the shore. When the first figures disembarked the mood in the camp darkened. It was more Technos, bringing a large amount of prisoners. From the way they were dressed Alice thought they were from the City. The guards on the beach relaxed and went to meet them, then suddenly everything started happening at once. The Technos from the boat began to fire their weapons at those on the beach, and the 'prisoners' let out a war cry and rushed forward too, their bonds actually bats and clubs and flails. Soon the beach was awash with the noise of battle, clubs and chains against Islander spears, and zapper against zapper. Alice and KC stared at each other in disbelief, and some of the other prisoners started cheering and throwing stones over the cage walls at the guards, who were torn between staying where they were and joining the fight. After the initial advance of the invasion force, the Technos and Islanders had regrouped, and reinforcements were rushing down from the cliffs, but already the second boat had landed, bringing with it another wave of City forces and a small number of Technos. Alice didn't understand it, but right now she didn't care. Soon she and KC were cheering just as loudly as the Timekeepers and everyone else in the compound.

'Power and Chaos!' the Guardian cried from the middle of the beach, raising his arms above his head. He brought them down again so that the chain that linked his wrists wrapped itself around the neck of the one guard that remained with him. The Islander made a choking sound and tugged vainly at the chain with his hands, before the Guardian let him fall to the sand. He then grabbed the loop of keys from the guard's belt and freed himself, dropping to his knees and muttering to the sky, talking to Zoot. Bringing the keys over to the cage, he tried each one in the lock in turn, laughing to himself as he did so. Finally he found the correct key and the gate swung open under the force of everyone pushing their way out.

'Come, my children!' he shouted triumphantly. 'Join the Chaos! Zoot has delivered us!'

KC took a step towards the gate and Alice put a restraining hand on his shoulder. He looked back at her, confused.

'Tell me this isn't Reality Space!' she pleaded.

'It's real, Alice!' He gave a cheeky grin and suddenly he was the old KC again, and she knew it was all really happening. She grinned back and they stumbled forwards in their chains to the now open gate. Another of the prisoners, one of the Timekeepers, had wrested the keys from the Guardian, now giggling madly by the cage, and was removing the chains from everyone who wasn't impatient enough to leave still bound. Most of those were being taken down by the guards, though some, like the Guardian had, were using their bonds as weapons. Flexing her wrists as her chains snapped open, she laughed and clapped the Timekeeper on the back so hard that he almost toppled over.

'Come on KC,' she told her friend, who was rubbing his liberated ankles. 'We can't let the others have all the fun.'

The pair of them strode out onto the battlefield, Alice's fists itching for a fight and KC's eyes scanning for any incoming zapper fire. It was KC who saw them first.

'Alice, look!' he yelled over the noise. 'The boat!'

Alice looked, and laughed in delight. The final boat, the smallest of the three, had finally landed, and some of its passengers looked very familiar. Two Technos stood on deck still, their weapons ready to fire at anyone who approached. Behind them stood Amber and Trudy with their children. The rest of the Mallrats, and others Alice did not know, were already joining the battle. Ebony fought side by side with a man in a red leather jacket, bringing down Technos and Islanders alike. Close by, Lex and another young man were fending off a group of the Islander guards, struggling against the enemy's weapons but soon bolstered by the arrival of May and Salene to even the odds. Others had come off the boat too, but Alice only had eyes for one. Ellie stood on her own, fighting against two Islanders, but giving as good as she got and soon despatching both of them and moving on in search of her next quarry. As the next one fell she looked up and saw her sister. Utter shock and then delight crossed her face and she started towards her. Alice did the same, leaving KC behind for the moment and swiftly dealing with anyone who got in her way. Two Islanders stepped into her path and she cracked their heads together, pushing them in opposite directions to clear her way. A Techno aimed a zapper at her but she kneed him in the groin and stepped over him as he lay doubled over in pain. Then the female Techno who had ordered her to be tortured again that afternoon was facing her. Surprise crossed both their faces, but only for an instant.

The female Techno gave a satisfied smirk. 'Oh, this will be a pleas…' she began, then fell to the floor unconscious as Alice punched her in the face.

'Blah, blah, blah,' Alice muttered to herself, without breaking her stride. 'Write me a letter if you have so much to say.'

'Alice!'

'Ellie!'

The two sisters reached each other and embraced.

'I was afraid I'd never see you again!' Ellie said, her words muffled by her sister's body pressed tightly to her.

'DUCK!' came a shout, and somebody careered into them, knocking them both to the floor just as the pulse from a Techno weapon flew past Alice's ear. She turned her head in time to see KC hitting the owner of the weapon with a baseball bat before she landed on something uncomfortable.

'Can't…breathe,' the thing wheezed.

'Jack!'

They all three stood up and brushed the sand from their clothes, and Ellie hugged Jack. It was clear that the battle on the beach was nearing its end now, with the City invaders the clear winners, though not without casualties. The Mallrats were heading towards each other again; May was supporting an injured Lex, while Ebony looked as though she was nursing a broken arm. Elsewhere Salene had found KC and looked like she would never let go of him, and Amber was making her way onto the beach. One of the Technos had his arm around her.

'What's wrong Alice?' Ellie asked, and Alice realised she was crying.

'They were right,' she laughed, wiping her eyes. 'It really is Christmas.'

Ellie and Jack looked at her in confusion, but she gathered them up with an arm around each and walked along the beach towards the rest of her friends, laughing all the way.


End file.
